Carl and I are thrilled to announce our next ‘Creative Mornings‘ which will be Friday November 14th hosted by VII, a 11 member photo agency specializing in conflict photography.

Stephen Mayes, MD of VII Photo will give us a 10minute lecture on “Finding new value in photography“: Today’s culture puts a low price on intellectual property: photos, music, movies, etc are all getting cheaper (and even free). Authors and creatives of all types need to be inventive about finding new value in their work, and about monetizing that value.

The location is at VII’s fantastic storefront space at 28 Jay Street, Brooklyn NY 11201 in DUMBO. Closest subway would be the York Street F Stop. Event opens up at 8:30am with the topic discussion starting at 9:00am. Make sure to r.s.v.p via email as there is only limited space available. Please tell us your name and what industry you’re in.

Breakfast will be sponsored by Iridesco, the creators of Harvest, a web-based time-tracking and invoicing application and Co-op, a casual communication tool to help small teams work together better. Both of these apps have played a key role in helping creative businesses stay organized and work efficiently.

While David was in Japan, he purchased two of these personal diaries at an art museum in Kyoto. The 2009 Creator’s Diary — created by D-Bros, the product design arm of the marketing and advertising firm Draft — allows creatives to keep up with their day-to-day activities on the top half, while tracking projects from week to week on the bottom half.

Action Method helps you manage your (life) projects with an emphasis on action. The application not only allows you to organize and delegate action steps but also enables ongoing conversations across all of your projects with anyone that works with you. And with Action Method you can keep all relevant communications (shared documents, solutions to problems, feedback, decisions) in one place.

The “Nag” and “Appreciate” feature made me chuckle: If you need to send a message to your co-worker about finally getting you that document you’ve been waiting for, you can send him a 140 characters ‘Nag’ system alert. And the ‘statistics’ feature will make many studio managers happy; with a click of a button you see what’s been done (or not).

Hat tip off to the Behance team. Action Method is a refreshing new approach to productivity, featuring a clean, intuitive user interface. I am impressed! And knowing this is just the start, I am curious to see the improvements Scott and his team will make over the coming months.

Jennifer mentioned Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs as one of her favorite books from childhood. I knew that if Jennifer loved I would love it as well, so, I ordered the book. I read it to our little Ella tonight and it’s hilarious. It made me laugh out loud and the illustration style really made me look. The story is simply brilliant:

The tiny town of Chewandswallow was very much like any other tiny town except for its weather which came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But it never rained rain and it never snowed snow and it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed things like mashed potatoes. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers. Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse.

I was approached by Time Out New York to be part of one of their guided shopping tours titled ‘rummaging for…” . Excited to share some of my favorite Brooklyn neighborhood stores, I met up with Senior Associate Editor Lisa Freedman and Photographer Christian Hartman last monday. I enjoyed showing them around as both of them weren’t familiar with Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill at all. Maybe I should put on my ‘neighborhood spokes-person hat’ more often?

This sew-it-yourself Let’s Stitch kit comes hand-screenprinted on two pieces of canvas, complete with sewing instructions and name tag. Cut out the pieces, sew them together, stuff with the filling of your choice and cuddle up! A great gift for a budding little crafter.

An Illustrated Guide to Forty Culinary Herbs: Designed to help you identify and enjoy the most common culinary herbs. Just move the tab to reveal which parts are best to use and how each herb can add life to your favorite foods. ChewOnThis also provided helpful preservation and storage tips, a few easy recipes and some quick ideas to inspire you as you begin to experiment with fresh herbs.

The New York Area Food Wheel: This food wheel is designed to help you figure out the best times of year to buy locally grown produce — food picked at the height of freshness that’s jam-paced with vitamins, minerals, and positive energy. Just turn the wheel to reveal the peak season and overall availability of our favorite fruits and vegetables.

Check this out, New Yorkers! This Friday at 7pm, at the New York Halloween parade, a secret group of friends are planning to recreate that fabulous Ferris Bueller scene, where Ferris inspires a Chicago parade to sing Twist & Shout. They already have 1,000 volunteers, balloons, sound equipment and an entire marching band!!! You can join them here. This is fantastic!